The theme for this week was adventure! To shake things up this week, I chose a quote straight out of a certain 2009 Pixar movie:

Adventure is out there! – Up (Pixar)

I know I usually choose quotes by famous real-life people for this challenge, but this line from Up was the first quote to pop into my head when I read this week’s prompt, so I just decided to run with it. On the theme of adventure, here’s a short story I wrote inspired by the tagline of Up. Enjoy!

Adventure is Out There!

“Shh, there it is, Bernie!”

Farryn crouched behind the bushes, her younger brother Bernard kneeling on the grass beside her. The two adventurers peeked out through the foliage at the enormous black hound lying just outside the entrance to the cave.

“You really think we can get past it, Farr?” Bernard whispered. His sister smiled at him and winked.

“Just follow my lead.”

Farryn slowly crept out from the bushes. Bernard unsheathed his sword and followed only a few steps behind. The moment it sensed them approaching, the massive hound lifted its head and turned to face them, stopping them in their tracks.

“Head to the left,” said Farryn as she slowly reached behind her back, never breaking eye contact with the beast for a second. Her brother did as he was told while she carefully pulled a large discus from her backpack. At the sight of the object, the hound started panting and wagging its tail furiously.

“You want this?” Farryn teased with a sly smile. “Go get it!”

She tossed the disc to her left, where Bernard was already waiting to catch it. The sight of him swiping it out of the air seemed to excite the animal further; within seconds, it had leaped to its feet and was bounding toward the explorer with a wild look in its red eyes. Quick as a flash, Bernard tossed the disc back to his sister. The beast skidded and whirled around just in time to see Farryn snatch it behind him. The moment it started toward her, she turned and flung the disc into the lake several meters away. The hound chased after it and plunged into the water with a great splash.

“Go, go, go!” Farryn called, and she and her brother raced toward the cave before the animal even had time to resurface. Bernard used his sword to slice through the invisible barrier they knew was sealing the entrance, and the two of them hurried inside. As soon as they had crossed the barrier, they collapsed into fits of giggles.

“We did it!” Bernard said as though he couldn’t believe the plan had worked.

His sister laughed. “I told you! The Discus of Distraction works every time!” Suddenly, she stopped giggling and covered her brother’s mouth with her hand as she whispered, “Quiet! We’re in the sleeping giant’s cave, remember?”

The pair of adventurers rose to their feet and crept down the dark hallway toward the chamber at the end of the cave. A colossal tiger was guarding the entrance when they arrived, but they were prepared for it. Farryn reached into her backpack again and extracted a large ball of rope, which she tossed behind her to roll away into the darkness. The beast bounded after it in a flash, chasing it down the hallway and out of sight.

“Animals are so predictable,” Bernard mused quietly as they crept into the room that the tiger had just left unguarded.

The first thing they noticed upon entering was the giant sleeping in his huge throne in the middle of the floor, his thunderous snoring echoing throughout the chamber. The siblings tiptoed their way over and cautiously scaled their way up the stack of giant-sized books beside the throne until they were level with the armrest.

“Where’s the idol?” Bernard whispered. Farryn pointed at the giant’s hand, underneath which they could see a black corner of the object they sought, the prize of their quest.

The adventurers knew what to do. Bernard gently slid the flat of his sword underneath the giant’s wrist and edged it upwards with the greatest of care. When enough of the idol was exposed, he stopped and held the sword in place while Farryn eased the item out from between the massive fingers, inch by inch, until at last it was free of the giant’s grasp and sitting in the palm of her hand.

Bernard carefully lowered the giant’s wrist back onto the armrest, then the siblings stared at the idol in wonder. It was long and rectangular, with oddly-shaped buttons all across the upper face. Their quest was over; they had finally found…

“The Lost Control of Remoté!”

As they spoke in unison, the young explorers suddenly realized that the giant had stopped snoring. Looking up, they noticed him beginning to stir, and they paled at the sight of him gradually opening his eyes.

“RUN!”

Farryn and Bernard tumbled down the tower of books and ran out the exit as a great rumbling filled the room behind them. They dashed down the hallway for the cave entrance, but their path was suddenly blocked by a huge shadowy figure, and the next thing they knew, they were frozen in place, staring up at a second giant looming over them…

“What are you kids doing?”

The children looked up at their mother in silence, too stunned to answer. She looked around to make sense of the scene before her. Through the open door of the den, she could see her husband yawning and stretching in his squeaky armchair, a stack of books collapsed beside it. The ginger cat was curled up in a corner of the living room, busy tearing away at a ball of yarn between her paws, and outside the glass doors leading to the backyard, the dog was swimming laps in the pool with a frisbee in his mouth. Looking back at her children, the woman noticed a remote control in her daughter’s hand and a cardboard sword in her son’s. She smiled at them.

“Did the giant take away your TV privileges again?”

Farryn and Bernard exchanged awkward looks, then nodded as they stared at the floor. Their mother laughed.

“Well, I’m glad to see you know how to keep yourselves entertained. In fact, since you’re such great explorers, I have another quest for you.” She took the remote from Farryn, then extracted a piece of paper from her pocket and handed it to the girl. “It’s from the Dessert Kingdom. Follow this map to find the sweet hidden treasure of Cocina Temple. I hear it tastes great with milk.”

Farryn and Bernard grinned at their mother as she winked. They looked down at her hand-drawn map of the house, then thanked her and dashed past her toward the kitchen, where a batch of freshly baked chocolate chip cookies was waiting for them. Their mother laughed again as she heard her children shouting for joy from down the hall.

About J.C. Wolfe

J.C. Wolfe is a fiction writer, biologist, and aspiring novelist of science fantasy and romance. A natural-born American and graduate in Marine Ecology from a university in Brazil, J.C. now writes for a living in California while spending free time blogging and penning stories and poetry.

Archives

Blog Stats

Copyright

Amazon Associates Disclaimer

J.C. Wolfe is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.

Calendar

Words of Wisdom

A person who has good thoughts cannot ever be ugly. You can have a wonky nose and a crooked mouth and a double chin and stick-out teeth, but if you have good thoughts it will shine out of your face like sunbeams and you will always look lovely.